The Real Neopia
by regalwizard
Summary: My idea of what Neopia is really like. Second chapter up! Not sure if I'm gonna bother with a third though...
1. The new world

"Come on Kay! The water's great!" Laura called.  
  
"In a minute" I hollered back, barely glancing from my notebook.  
  
I was writing the second chapter of a story I was working on, and had just gotten over my latest bout of writer's block. I'm Kay, by the way. I'm one of the few humans who live in Neopia. The rest just visit, though some are closer to living here then others. I was at the lake one summer's day with my friends when it all started. While they were splashing around, I was writing furiously away, and had yet to go in. I heard a car pull up behind me, the doors creaking open and slamming shut as the people clambered out.  
  
"Can ah let the dawg out, mama?"  
  
"Fine, but y'all keep him on a leash now, you hear?"  
  
'Tourists' I thought with a stifled groan.  
  
"Hey! Ken! Ken, y'all get back here!"  
  
With a loud bark, their dog jumped out of the car, eluding the leash. Dashing over, he stuck his nose under my elbow, causing my pen to fly across the page, leaving a line right through my work.  
  
"Argh! Dammit dog, watch what you're doing!"  
  
Looking down at the dog, I gasped in amazement. There, in full, living, 3D colour was a fire Lupe. Suddenly, something clicked in my head.  
  
"Wait... Ken? As in KendoGarurumon15?"  
  
The Lupe nodded his head furiously. With a cry of joy, I threw my arms around him.  
  
"Y'all know this dawg?" I looked up at a fat man in a horrendous Hawaiian print shirt.  
  
"Yes, he's my dog. I lost him a while back, when he took off chasing a cat. Where'd you find him?"  
  
"Is that so? Found him a ways down the road there, looking lost, hungry, and right filthy."  
  
"Thank you so much for taking care of him. I hope he wasn't any trouble. Oh, and, out of curiosity, how'd you know what his name was?"  
  
"T'aint no trouble t'all. He had this here collar on him."  
  
With that, the man handed me a large black band, then went and joined his family on the dock. When I examined the collar, I noticed a small red button by the fastener. Curious, I pressed it, and Ken's full name lit up, in bright, flaming orange letters. After thinking for a few minutes, I looked over at Ken.  
  
"Do you remember how you came to this world?"  
  
Ken nodded.  
  
"Can you take me there?"  
  
Ken nodded, barked once, leapt up, and headed for the road, looking back to see if I was following. Scrambling to my feet, I stuffed my notebook and pen into my purse and hurried after him. After about half an hour of walking down the road, Ken turned off, into the woods. Another half hour of bush whacking, and we finally stumbled into a clearing. There were two large stumps in the middle of the clearing, and Ken headed straight for them. I watched in amazement as he walked between the stumps... and disappeared. Giving myself a quick shake, I followed him. I walked between the stumps, and immediately, everything went a blindingly bright white. I then felt a sharp jerk, and the light dimmed enough that I could see. I opened my eyes, and what appeared to be the Neopets login page filled my vision.  
  
"Welcome to Neopets" a computerized female voice came out of nowhere. "Please login to proceed, if you do not have an account, or wish to start a new one, please press the appropriate button."  
  
A keypad appeared before me, so I entered the necessary info, and hit the enter key.  
  
"Welcome back, regalwizard" the voice came back on. "Please enjoy your stay in Neopia."  
  
Light flared brilliant again, I felt another jolt, and found myself in a large room, a large oak frame bed on one side, and a large black and white desk on the other. With a start, I realized that it was my room of my Neohome. Leaving my room, I went downstairs to the lounge, hoping someone might be there. I was in luck; all of my pets were sitting around the table. With a big grin on his face, Ken got up.  
  
"Welcome home Regal!" 


	2. Shopping trip

"Y... you're... I'm... This is real!" I stammered. "B... but, how?"  
  
"No idea, and I, for one, don't care" Kyry stood up. "I'm just glad you're finally here for real."  
  
Maxa opened her mouth to say something, when a resounding crash came from the kitchen. Dashing over, we skidded in, to find Zapo half buried under a stone shelf, and numerous cans of food. With an exasperated sigh, Kyry got Maxa to lift the shelf off of him, while Ken dragged him out from under it.  
  
"Zapo, are you alright?" I asked.  
  
"Well... yes... but..."  
  
"But what?"  
  
"We have no cream" he said sadly.  
  
"So, besides the lack of cream, you're alright?"  
  
"Ummm... yup!"  
  
"Good. 'Cause if you do that again, I'm going to let Kyry's vines tie you to the wall so your siblings can beat some sense into you!"  
  
Zapo backed away, eyeing first me, then Kyry. I looked over, and the other three were eyeing Zapo, each with a suspicious glint in their eyes. I shook my head at them, and turned to straighten up the mess with a resigned sigh. Kyry and Maxa soon pulled me away, saying the boys could clean it up. They dragged me through the house, pointing out things that they thought should be fixed, changed, moved, removed, and added. I was then hauled outside, down Chia Close, and into Neopia Central, armed with nothing more then my pets and a shopping list. We headed for the furniture shop, picked out what we needed, and headed for the counter. As we went, I noticed just how empty it was, even though the place was packed with expensive, rare, and high-demand items. I stepped up to the counter and handed the shopkeeper the list of items we wanted.  
  
"Alrighty. All told, that'll be 100,000 NeoPoints, please" the shopkeeper said, after tallying the prices.  
  
"100k!?!" Kyry exploded. "That's ridiculous! We'd have to buy 10 times as much before it came to that total! You're trying to scam us! Why I oughtta..."  
  
Kyry lunged forward, her face a brilliant red with rage. I grabbed her before she got to the counter, and held her back.  
  
"I'm really sorry about this" I said to the keeper. "She's not normally like this. And don't worry, I've got the NP to pay for the..."  
  
I trailed off as I noticed that the keeper was staring at me with a mix of awe and fear.  
  
"Y... you... you're... a... a... solid!" he stammered.  
  
Blinking in confusion, I set the now calm Kyry down. Stammering "You're solid!" over and over, he slowly reached over and gently prodded me in the arm. His courage grew as he prodded me harder, until he scratched me with one of his claws.  
  
"OUCH! Enough already!" I snapped.  
  
I pulled my arm away, but not before a couple drops of blood hit the counter. Looking slightly hurt, he looked down, and gasped when he saw the blood. Looking at the blood, he looked at my arm, then at me.  
  
"I... I thought only neopets bled" he said with awe.  
  
"All solid living organics bleed. Especially when you scratch them. Now, can we please get back to the business at hand?"  
  
Apologizing profusely, the keeper turned back to the register, and hit a few buttons.  
  
"Okay then, let's see. All told, that'll be 10,000 NP please."  
  
"Wha... But, just a minute ago, you said that it was 100k. Why's it dropped to 10k?" I asked, thoroughly confused.  
  
"It's standard Neopian shopkeeper policy. Solids get things at 10 times less then non-solids do."  
  
"Erm... Okay, now I'm even more confused. What do you mean by solids and non-solids?"  
  
The keeper simply pointed at the door, where a pink Aisha and her owner had come in. What was so odd about this, however, was that, while the Aisha looked perfectly normal, her owner looked like a holographic projection. She was transparent, and had horizontal lines running though her, like a TV with bad reception. She looked around, pointed at a gray chair, which the Aisha picked up, and headed for the counter. The haggling screen opened between the owner and the keeper, and the Aisha and her owner soon walked out, having paid what Kyry thought to be a hideous price. Seeing the bewildered look on my face, the keeper smiled kindly.  
  
"All owners look like that, to one degree or another. Some, you can barely see, others are almost indistinguishable from a real solid."  
  
Needing time to let this sink in, I quickly paid the keeper and headed out the door, waving goodbye as I herded Maxa and Zapo outside. As we headed for home, I couldn't help but notice all the holographic owners that were around. They were all completely oblivious to each other, and almost as oblivious to their pets. As a result, some pets ran off, chasing or bullying other pets, while some just wandered off to chat with their friends. Still more were stuck having to keep their younger siblings behaved, though this was mainly just those whose owner had three or more pets, or a baby pet. And the petpets. OY! They were *everywhere*, and were into *everything*. We quickly made it back to the safety of our NeoHome, and we all sank down into chairs, relived to be home. As Maxa and Kyry went about the house, arranging the new furniture they way they wished, a holographic window appeared in front of me.  
  
"You've got NeoMail" a computerized voice chimed.  
  
Curious, I reached up and pressed the button that said 'Read'. The window changed, displaying the message. It was a question from a newbie in my guild. I hit the Reply button, the window changed, and a holographic keypad appeared. I quickly typed up a response and sent it off.  
  
"How did you know how to do that?" Ken asked curiously.  
  
"I've done it so many times on my computer back home that I hardly think about it" I replied with a shrug.  
  
"Say... How about travel?" Zapo piped up. "Can we still go to... say... Mystery Island at the touch of a button?"  
  
"You know, I'm not sure. Hmmm..."  
  
Hesitantly, I put my left hand up, and a holographic version of the standard yellow side bar popped up. Reaching over, I tapped Explore, and the map of Neopia swam into view. I reached for the sign that said 'Mystery Island' just as Kyry and Maxa walked into the lounge. Pressing the sign, a bright light filled the room, then dimmed, leaving the five of us standing on the dock at Mystery Island. With a whoop of delight, Maxa and Zapo dashed off the end of the dock and into the water, intent on having a nice long swim. Ken, Kyry and I wandered over to the beach and stretched out, enjoying the warm sun and cool breeze wafting in off the ocean. 


End file.
